Hinge /(?)/

Hinge

n.
  1. The hook with its eye, or the joint, on which a door, gate, lid, etc., turns or swings; a flexible piece, as a strip of leather, which serves as a joint to turn on.
    The gate self-opened wide, On golden hinges turning.
  2. That on which anything turns or depends; a governing principle; a cardinal point or rule; as, this argument was the hinge on which the question turned.
  3. One of the four cardinal points, east, west, north, or south. [R.]
    When the moon is in the hinge at East.
    — Creech.
    Nor slept the winds . . . but rushed abroad.

Phrases & Compounds
Hinge joint
See Ginglymus.
To be off the hinges
to be in a state of disorder or irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment.

Hinge

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Hinged; p. pr. & vb. n. Hinging

  1. To attach by, or furnish with, hinges.
  2. To bend. [Obs.]

Hinge

v. i.
  1. To stand, depend, hang, or turn, as on a hinge; to depend chiefly for a result or decision or for force and validity; -- usually with on or upon; as, the argument hinges on this point.